


Henry Gold

by nothingeverlost



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-09
Updated: 2014-03-05
Packaged: 2017-12-10 21:00:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/790110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothingeverlost/pseuds/nothingeverlost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina asked for Gold’s help in procuring a child, but when he held the wee boy in his arms he couldn’t give the boy up.  Ten years later it’s Henry Gold who arrives in Boston, looking for Emma.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Home

“I have to take you home, kid. I’m sure your parents are worried sick about you.” Emma stared at the two story house; through the window of her bug. Whoever had adopted Henry obviously had money.

“You have to promise me something first; you have to stay here, in Storybrooke, and let me prove that the curse is real. Please,” Henry begged. He still held the book on his lap, as tightly as Emma had ever held her blanket, though she’d never let anyone see that. She’d wanted a good life for him, and he looked like he had that. It didn’t make it easier to think about the life 

“I’m staying the night, and that’s it. I have a life in Boston, and you have a life here.” A life without her, and that was too hard to stay and watch. Already it was going to be hard, knowing what he looked like, how he sounded like Neal when he begged. She’d go back to Boston and imagine this house, and Henry living inside of it. Or maybe not Boston; maybe it was time to move somewhere new. Winter was coming; maybe California was a good idea.

“A month,” he tried to bargain. When she shook her head he tried again. ”A week?”

“I’ll say good-bye before I leave tomorrow,” was all she promised. 

Even as they got out of the car the front door was opening. Henry’s adoptive parents, Emma thought to herself. His real parents, she corrected mentally. She’d carried him for nine months and held him for a few minutes, but someone else had raised him for ten years.

“Henry, where have you been, son? I’ve been worried sick.” The man moved swiftly, despite the cane, and the moment he was close enough he had his hand on Henry’s shoulder. There was a second man, younger and taller, dressed in leather, following behind him. ”Anything could have happened to you.”

“I’ll be on my way then, Mr. Gold. Looks like I can rip up that missing person’s report.” Emma noticed a shield at the man’s waist as he walked past. The local law, apparently. 

“Thank you, Sheriff. Fortunately I think a grounding is the worst thing that will happen tonight.” His mouth twisted into a frown, but Emma could see relief in the man’s eye as well. She also noticed both the face Henry made and the easy way the man and boy stood next to each other. 

“But dad…”

“Inside, son. I’d like to at least be comfortable while you explain to me just why you tried to to give me a heart attack.” The man, Gold according to the sheriff, nudged Henry towards the door, not seeming to notice Emma. 

“It was important. I had to find my birth mom.” He held onto his dad’s hand, the one not grasping the cane.

“Henry.” There was pain in the man’s eyes when he looked over his shoulder at Emma, though he hid it quickly. 

“I found her, dad, and she’s going to fix everything.” Henry took a step towards her, reaching for her hand. ”This is my mom, Emma Swan. Emma, this is my dad. Everyone calls him Mr. Gold, except me.”

“Emma.” He almost tripped, his standing suddenly unsteady. She reached out instinctively to grab ahold of his arm, but he pulled away. ”I think you’d best come inside, Emma Swan.”

“I wouldn’t mind a drink.” Emma shrugged, following them up the steps and into the strangely pink house. She was used to apartments furnished in cast offs and Ikea, and the antiques spoke of far more prominence than she’d ever had. Some might call the place cluttered, but Emma liked the fact that it obviously couldn’t be packed up in a day. It was more home than she’d known, and that was exactly what she’d wanted for her kid. The walls were covered in photos, mostly of Henry, some alone and some with his dad or a few other people. “It’s a nice place.”

“Thank you.” He led them into a room that could only be called a parlor; living room was too normal and mundane a word.

“I’m starving. Can I order pizza? I haven’t had anything since lunch.” Henry rested his hand on the phone that looked like something from a movie set.

“You should be eating bread and water in your room, after that stunt Henry.” Gold shook his head, pausing as he picked up a glass decanter. “Your dinner is in the refrigerator. Don’t forget to close the microwave door after you’re done using it. You forgot last time.”

“I’ll remember.” Henry was almost to the door when he stopped and turned. “You’ll still be here when I get back, won’t you Emma?”

“I’ll say goodbye before I leave.” It seemed enough of a promise to satisfy him; a moment later he was racing down the hall.

“I’m sorry for the trouble he caused you, Ms. Swan. It must have been quite the rude awakening, having him show up at your door today.” Gold held out a glass to her, something in a deep gold color. Honestly she didn’t care what it was; the burn when she swallowed was enough.

“Funny thing is, I made a wish on a birthday candle, a few minutes before he knocked on my door. I just wanted someone to share my cupcake with, and maybe say that they’re glad I was born.” She’d split the cupcake with Henry, before they’d left. She’d thrown the candle away, but wasn’t sure if he’d seen it or not.

“I don’t have any cupcakes, but I assure you that I’m glad you were born. This place would be a great deal more empty, if not for you.” Gold’s hand rested on the book that Henry had left behind when he’d gone to eat his dinner. Emma wondered how much of his fantasy Henry had shared with his father.

“I should probably get going. It’s late, and I still have to find a place in town to stay for the night.” The man in front of her was Henry’s father. She’d given birth to him, but Gold was the one who knew his favorite foods, his nightmares, what color his room was, and what gifts he liked. She’d brought Henry home instead of putting him on a bus because he’d been so persistent, but mostly because she’d wanted the reassurance, ten years late, that she’d done the right thing. She had. Henry had the home and family she’d never had. He was safe and loved and well cared for, and that was good. She could leave now, and maybe sometimes she’d picture him here, living his life. Maybe she’d miss him, and grieve all over again. She’d done it before, and survived. “I told Henry I’d say goodbye, if it’s alright.”

“We have a spare bedroom.” 

“What?” The offer surprised Emma so much that she blinked and stared at him.

“You drove across a state line to bring my son home, Ms. Swan. The least I can do is offer you a place to sleep. It will give you a chance, as well, to see what the lad’s home is like. I imagine if I had a son that I was not able to raise I would want to at least know that.” Emma could not read the expression on the man’s face. He’d make a good poker player, and was the kind of person that she’d hate to skiptrace. Most people projected clues about themselves that at least gave her a place to start. Other than a love of his son, and the obvious things like his limp, she couldn’t tell much about him. 

“I don’t want to put you to any trouble.” She wasn’t sure she’d sleep at all, knowing that Henry was just down the hall. Then again, she probably wasn’t going to get much sleep no matter where she was. 

“It’s no trouble at all. Henry will be delighted.” His smile was only a slight one, but felt genuine enough.

“What am I delighted about?” Henry used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe away something red from the corner of his mouth as he reentered the library and plopped down on the arm of the couch.

“Use a napkin, Henry, unless you want to start doing your own laundry,” Gold scolded lightly. “Ms. Swan is going to stay here for the night, and perhaps she’ll join us at Granny’s for breakfast in the morning before you go to school.”

“Awesome. Thanks dad.” Henry was off the couch in seconds, throwing his arms around his dad’s waist, hugging him. There was something careful about it, though. The hug did not seem unwelcome; Emma figured it was more about being careful because of the cane.

“You’re welcome. Why don’t you show Ms. Swan to her room while I fetch the clean sheets. And son?”

“Yeah?” Henry asked.

“We’re not done talking about what you did today. It was dangerous and thoughtless, and we will be having a conversation about it.”

“I’m sorry, dad. I didn’t mean to worry you.” They hugged once more, father and son, before Henry led Emma up the stairs to the guest room.


	2. Cinnamon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Breakfast at Granny's

‘New Parking Meter to be Installed.’

It was a matter of habit to sit at the kitchen table, teacup next to his hand, and read the paper. Gold wondered just how many times in the last twenty-eight years he had read the same headline about parking meters, or something equally mundane. It was almost enough to make him laugh; their entire world had changed yesterday in a cataclysmic way, and he was the only one that knew. Time was moving again. The Savior had arrived, and it was only a matter of time before the curse was broken and he was free to find his boy.

His other boy.

“Dad, can I stay home from school today? Someone should show Emma around town.” Gold blinked, looking over his shoulder to find Henry opening the fridge. After a pointed look he lowered the bottle of juice he’d been about to drink from and went to get a glass instead. His hair was more straight than Bae’s had ever been, but the color was a close match. Henry, however, was very much his own person, and just as much of his son as Bae was. He wondered how they would get along, when they met.

“She’ll have to make do without a tour guide. You skipped classes yesterday; that’s more than enough for one week.” To his knowledge it was the first time Henry had ever skipped school. He was a good lad. A lonely boy, something that he understood now that his brain wasn’t in the fog of the curse. It wasn’t a wonder that Henry never brought home friends, or grew close to his classmates, not when he was the only child in town to age. He’d brought the child into a town where time was frozen. The only saving grace was that even his cursed self knew better than to give the child to Regina. She’d never forgiven him for that.

“I had to.” Henry started opening up cabinets, looking for something. 

“The curse,” Gold said. He’d been hearing for a month now, about the curse and how no one remembered. He’d flipped through the book and patiently explained to his son the difference between fiction and reality, and why it was good to have an imagination but important to know the difference between what was real. Someday he’d have to apologize to the lad, but not now.

“It’s okay that you don’t believe me. You will someday.” Henry opened three more cabinets, leaving all the doors open.

“You know you can tell me things, even when I don’t believe you. Or Archie, if you’d rather.” The cricket. He hid a smirk behind his teacup; he’d been sending his son to a cricket for therapy.

“I’ve only told you and Archie and Emma. Archie thinks it’s my way to communicate complex emotions that I can’t express in other ways because of my age.” The boy was ten, but sounded years older. 

“You shouldn’t be reading your file, Henry. Those are Archie’s private thoughts.” He scolded even though it was something he himself would do, and right now the proof that Henry was so much his own child was welcome.

“People never tell me things.” Henry shrugged as he opened the pantry door. “Emma doesn’t believe me either, but she’s the hero, she can’t believe yet.”

“Are you looking for something in particular or are you just bored?” Gold carried his teacup over to the sink to rinse it out, his mind briefly flashing onto the cup in the other room, protected under glass. For twenty-eight years he’d been treating it as precious without knowing why. He’d spent hours the night before staring at it, after Henry had gone to sleep. Once the curse broke he would be able to find his son, but he’d never be able to find Belle.

“I thought maybe we’d have the stuff to make coffee. You know, for Emma. I bet she drinks coffee, like most people do. Miss Blanchard does; she gets it at Granny’s before she comes to school.” When Henry started opening drawers Gold laid a hand on his shoulder, feeling the tension in his muscles that was unusual, as if finding coffee was the key to getting Emma Swan to stay.

They’d have to find something much more convincing than a drink. “If Ms. Swan drinks coffee then she’ll have to wait until we go to Granny’s. Unless something’s magically appeared overnight there’s no coffee in the house; there’s the usual tea and the things to make your chocolate.”

“I think I can manage to wait that long; I never did get the point in drinking leaves.” Slouched against the kitchen door frame, wearing a t-shirt, jeans and boots that came up to her knees, Emma Swan looked every inch her father’s daughter. After he got Henry to school he was going to have to figure out just where Charming was; he’d seen mouseish little Mary Margaret, such an inverted version of her true self, everyday for almost three decades, but never a sign of the Prince since they’d spoken through bars.

“If Henry will go get his backpack I believe we’re ready to go. I hope you slept well? It’s been some time since anyone’s used the guest room.” None of the rooms in the house had ever been slept in other than his own and Henry’s. For eighteen years of the curse he’d been the sole occupant of the house that was only a home once he’d brought his son through the front door.

“I’ve had worse beds,” she answered with a shrug. “We’re going to a place called Granny’s?”

“It’s a diner on Main Street, just across from my shop. Henry and I rely on it rather heavily for breakfast. It’s enough bother getting the both of us out out bed in the morning without fussing over the stove as well, and I can’t believe that cold cereal is enough to keep a growing boy going until lunch.” He’d never gotten the knack of anything other than gruel for breakfast. Now he understood why; pancakes were a thing of this world, not his own.

“You can get coffee and I can get hot chocolate. Or you can get chocolate too, if you want. Dad always gets tea, even if we go for dinner.” Henry wasn’t usually so chatty in the mornings. Gold had to wonder if he thought talking enough would mean he’d eventually find the right thing to get Emma to stay.  
That was still something he hadn’t figured out yet. Emma was the savior, but she couldn’t break the curse if she didn’t stay in town. Just waking him up wasn’t enough; he may have created the thing but he had no power to break it other than the back door he’d already unlocked. They needed to find a way to get her to stay.

“I think I’ll stick with coffee, kid.” She got french toast and eggs as well. Henry, who usually wavered between waffles and pancakes, also chose the french toast, along with his chocolate.

“With cinnamon, as usual,” Ruby commented when she brought their order. The wolf girl, Gold thought to himself, and remembered a red cloak he’d once traded in a bargain. It was strange, looking at the people he’d dealt with for twenty-eight years and remembering them as they really were, behind the layers of the curse.

“Cinnamon?” Emma asked, eyeing the drink with an odd look on her face.

“I’m not sure where he picked it up, but he’s asked for it since he was a wee lad.” Bae had never had chocolate or cinnamon, but in the back of the kitchen cabinet he still had the small plastic mug Henry had first used for the drink. There was a fire engine on it.

“I’ve always put cinnamon on my hot chocolate,” Emma said with a slight frown. “I’ve never met anyone else who does that.”

“Miss Blanchard does. My teacher.” Henry paused with the fork hovering in front of his mouth. “Usually she gets coffee but sometimes she asks for hot chocolate and Granny always brings over the cinnamon shaker.”

It was a casual comment. A mere coincidence, it might seem.

Except it wasn’t.

His son’s teacher was also his grandmother, and the woman across the table from them was Henry’s mother and the daughter of Snow White. He’d anticipated this happening for years. Decades, even. But things were different now. He hadn’t realized that anything other than finding Bae would matter. “Drink your own chocolate, son, and eat up. You have a bus to catch.”

“Are you sure I can’t stay home today? I can get my homework from Paige.”

“You can get your homework from your teacher. In class. Education is important.” Bae had almost aged out of the village school at Henry’s age, and had stayed home some days because his help was needed with the sheep. He could give Henry better than that.

“Oh dear. How clumsy of me.” He was distracted by his son, and hadn’t heard the door open, not until someone bumped into their table. His tea cup tipped, flooding his plate. His toast and eggs were a loss.

“Madame Mayor, having trouble walking a straight line this morning? Perhaps lower heels or earlier nights might help you.” Regina Mills stood at the edge of their table, blood red nails resting against the formica, looking every inch the evil queen even if she was dressed in a black suit rather than the overdone dresses of their own world.

“I heard you had some trouble yesterday, Gold.” Her red lips curved upwards in a smile before she dared to address his son. “It can be dangerous, Henry, to talk to strangers. I would have thought your father or teacher would have taught you that. Next time you’re in trouble I hope you remember you can come to me. I’m always willing to help.”

“I didn’t talk to strangers, Mayor. This is my mom.”

“And that is your bus, lad. Better run for it.” Never had a bus been timed so well. Gold was relieved to see it pull up next door.

“You’ll still be here when I get out of school?” Henry asked Emma worriedly.

“Yeah, I can stick around a bit longer.” Emma’s reassurance seemed to be enough for Henry to relax.

“Okay. Bye Emma. Bye Dad.” Henry slung his backpack over one shoulder and stuffed a last bite into his mouth, leaving with a muffled something that might have been a goodbye to the mayor.

“Lovely manners you’ve instilled in the boy, Gold.” Regina smirked down at his ruined breakfast before she headed for a table across the room.

“That’s your mayor? What bug crawled up her ass?” in a town where everyone either did the mayor’s bidding, was scared of her, or both, Emma Swan’s candor was refreshing.

“I believe that would be me. I did sometime ten years ago that she’s yet to forgive. I promised to broker an adoption for her.” She’d spoke of being lonely, and having a void in her chest. A figure of speech, he’d thought then. He hadn’t known about the curse and the price that she had paid.

“What happened?” There was still a piece of french toast on her plate, but she pushed it across the table. An offer. He didn’t usually like sweets for breakfast, but the gesture was more important than the food. Gold took a bite.

“You’ve met her, Ms. Swan. Would you leave a defenseless infant boy alone with her?” He hadn’t left town to fetch the boy. It hadn’t occurred to him then; he knew now that it hadn’t been possible. But he’d been the first to hold the child and the one to carry him to the mayor’s home. She had spoken of the child being what she needed. She had spoken of the room waiting for him at the top of the stairs. She’d never mentioned loving him.

Regina had held out her arms to take him, and Gold had walked out the front door instead. Paperwork had been altered. Henry, as he’d already been named, was his.

“She was supposed to be Henry’s mother but you raised him instead.” Emma’s eyes widened as she stared across the diner at the woman in black. Gold glanced out the window at the bus driving away and tried not to think about what Henry’s life might have been like.

“I did indeed.” And it had changed everything.


	3. Proof

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma's leaving, but the curse will only break if she stays.

“You have to stay. _Please._ The curse won’t break without you.” Henry stood in the doorway of the guest bedroom, as if he could block her from leaving. Emma, an expert on packing, put the last of her things in a duffle. It was a good thing she always kept a couple of sets of clothes in the trunk of her bug; the one night had been unexpected but she’d ended up staying for a second as well. Henry had shown her the town where he’d spent his whole life after he’d gotten out of school, and his dad had made dinner for the three of them. She could leave knowing that the baby she’d given birth to had exactly what she’s wanted for him; a good home and a loving family.

It didn’t make the pain less, but it would help once she was home. “I have a life back in Boston, kid, like you have a life here. A good one.”

“But it’s not a good life.” She thought, for just a moment, he was talking about her own life. “Everyone is cursed and they don’t know it. If you leave the evil queen will win and everyone will be stuck forever.”

“And who’s this evil queen you keep talking about?” She shouldn’t have asked, but she was curious to see how he thought things worked. If nothing else she should let Gold know before she left. Henry had already told her about his therapist being a cricket and the waitress that had served them breakfast being Little Red Riding Hood. And apparently the woman who owned the bakery had fallen in love with a frog and the woman who managed the furniture store once slept on a pea.

“The mayor. She’s the evil queen, Snow White’s stepmother. She’s the one that cast the curse to bring everyone here,” he insisted.

If she was going to cast someone as an evil witch the mayor certainly fit the bill, but that just meant the kid had picked up on the animosity between his dad and the mayor, or the woman’s tendency to sneer. “Everyone except for you.”

“It’s not an accident that I was brought here, though. The curse was cast the day you were born, and your parents saved you, but there had to be a reason for you to come back.” It was a Saturday, no school, so he was dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt. She wondered what he did on Saturdays; would he spend the day at his dad’s shop? Did they go to the ice cream parlor sometimes? Play at the park?

“My parents are Snow White, who happens to be your teacher, and Prince Charming who is what, your school principal?” He certainly had worked out a complicated story. Maybe he would grow up to be a writer.

“I don’t know where he is, I haven’t found him. I know you don’t believe me, but you have to help. Just stay for a little while longer.” He looked up at her, and for the first time she really saw Neal in him. The pleading eyes were just the same.

“I said I’d bring you home, kid, and that was two days ago. Maybe your dad could help.” Or get him the help that he needed. Maybe the kid was just going through a phase where he needed extra attention. Emma didn’t know much about kids. Or anything at all.

“He’s cursed too. He’s one of the people we have to save.” Henry ran down the stairs in front of her.

“Henry, why don’t you take Emma’s bag out to the car? She’s been generous with her time already.” Gold waited for them in the hallway, touching his son’s shoulder briefly as he nodded at the bag she carried.

“Maybe I made things worse by staying.” Henry slammed the door behind him. Emma stared at the window, but couldn’t see anything through the stained glass.

“Quite the contrary, Ms. Swan. I think he obviously needed to meet you. I know it was a closed adoption, but if you have no objections I think it might do him good to be allowed to contact you. Not often, I wouldn’t want him to intrude on your life, but now that the connection is made I worry about severing it too abruptly. Perhaps your e-mail address?” The request came as a surprise. Emma looked down at the pad of paper and pen he held out to her.

“If you think it’s a good idea, sure. You’re his parent.” Emma scribbled down the e-mail address she checked the daily, rather than any of the others she kept for various reasons. After a moment’s hesitation she wrote her cell number as well. “I’m glad, you know. That he wound up with someone like you. I never let myself think about him too much, but the one thing I wanted was for him to have his best chance with a family that loved him. I wanted better for him than I had.”

“He means the world to me, Ms. Swan, and I would do anything for him.” He folded the paper neatly in half and put it in his breast pocket. “Thank you. For everything.”

“Yeah.” She had to go. She had a life to get back to, or at least an apartment and a job. Storybrooke wasn’t her place. “He’s a good kid. Whatever’s best for him, with the e-mail thing, is fine with me.”

She found Henry standing next to her car, glaring at it as if he could make it disappear. “Take care, kid.”

“I have a name. It’s Henry.” He looked down at his feet. Maybe it was the fact that she was leaving, but she was once again reminded vividly of Neal. 

“Goodbye, Henry. I’m sorry I couldn’t be what you wanted, but I’m glad we had a chance to meet.” She tried to reach out for him, just a touch, but he turned and ran halfway up the sidewalk, throwing himself at his dad. The man wrapped his arm not holding the cane around the boy.

Emma waved to them both, even though Henry couldn’t see, and got into her car.

She barely made it to the ‘Welcome to Storybrooke’ sign before steam started pouring out of the engine and her bug came to a sudden stop with a loud popping noise.

“Shit.” It was hardly the first time the car had broken down on her, it was ten years older than she was, but it had to win the award for the most inconvenient timing. It was five minutes before it was safe enough to open the hood and it didn’t take long after that to see that it wasn’t anything obvious she could fix. Thankfully she had enough reception to pull up the number for Franklin’s Towing and Salvage. They promised her a wait time of less than twenty minutes for a truck.

It was twenty-one minutes, but she was just glad when the driver introduced himself as Michael and told her there was no other car being worked on at the moment. He could get started on her bug as soon as he towed it back the the shop.

Gold called when they were halfway there. “Ms. Swan is Henry is with you?”

“Me? He was with you when I left, Gold, how could he be with me?” Her last look at him was in the rearview mirror of her car.

“He ran up to his room after you left. I thought he just needed some space, but I checked on him a moment ago and he’s gone. He left a note.” She’d only spent two days with Gold, but in that time she’d never heard him any less than calm. Until now.

“A note?” She’d been gone barely more than half an hour. Even if he’d left as soon as he’d written the note he couldn’t have gotten far.

“He says that he’s going to get the proof he needs to convince you to stay. I don’t know what he could be possibly talking about.”

“Look, I’m headed back right now, but I don’t have a car. Can you meet me at a place called Franklin’s Towing on Main Street?” 

“I’ll be there in ten minutes. Thank you, Ms. Swan.” The phone disconnected before she could respond and tell him that he could thank her when the kid was found.

“That was Mr. Gold?” The driver glanced at her briefly as he slowed to turn a corner.

“You know him?” She shouldn’t be surprised, it was a pretty small town and Henry had mentioned that he’d lived there all his life.

“Everyone knows him. He doesn’t really have any friends, though, unless you count Dove.”

“We’ve not really friends, we’re…” But what were they? Gold was Henry’s dad, but she wasn’t his mother, not in anything other than the biological sense. They’d know each other for all of two days, and in the normal scheme of things would never meet again. 

“His son is missing and that’s what I do. I find people.” Of course the people she usually looked for were criminals or parents that didn’t want to be found, not ten year old boys.

“Damn. Whatever else anyone can say about him, Gold loves his kid. I can’t imagine what he’s going through right now.” When they turned the corner one of the street signs read ‘Main Street.’ Almost there.

“You have kids?” she asked, looking around for the cadillac Gold drove and trying not to wonder too hard about what other things people said about the man. She hadn’t really talked to many people in town during her brief visit.

“Nah, I’m a confirmed bachelor. There’s an apartment above the shop and that’s where I live. Couldn’t fit a second person, let alone a kid.” Tillman pulled past the driveway to the garage, then backed in carefully so the bug was lined up on the lift. “If you give me your number I can let you know how things are with the car. We’re open until six.”

For the second time in an hour Emma wrote down her number. She was barely finished when Gold pulled up to the curb. “Something happened to your car, dearie?”

“Yeah. Lucky timing, I guess, or it would have been an hour or more until I could have gotten back here.” Gold smiled when she slipped into the passenger seat, an odd little smile that didn’t   
seem quite right somehow.

“It seems that fate is shining on us today in one respect at least.” He hadn’t even put the car into neutral, and eased up on the break to start the car moving again. “Unless you have another thought I was going for the sheriff first.”

“He was there when I brought Henry home, wasn’t he?” Emma had a vague recollection of a man with a badge and an Irish lilt to his voice.

“He was. Storybrooke is a sleepy town, without much crime so here isn’t much need for a full force. There’s just Graham, and he does more getting kittens out of trees than he does catching villains.” It only took a few minutes to reach the Sheriff’s office. Gold barely paused for the stop signs. “I brought the letter, but if you can wait until we’re inside I’d appreciate it. The sooner everyone’s up to speed the sooner we can find my boy.”

“You’re the one making the calls, Gold.” She followed him inside the station that wasn’t much more than a hallway leading to a single room portioned off by bars and glass walls.

“Mr. Gold. And Henry’s friend, I believe. Is there something I can do for you?” The sheriff was sitting in a chair, one foot propped up on the corner of his desk. There was an open pink pastry box on his desk. “I was just having my breakfast. You’re welcome to one, if you like.”

“Henry’s gone again.” Gold ignored the offer, and looked pointedly at the sheriff’s foot until he lowered it to the ground. “Ms. Swan has agreed to help find him, but another set of eyes would not go amiss and you might as well earn that paycheck my taxes pay.”

“Do we know where he went on Thursday? He might have gone to the same place again.” The sheriff returned his half eaten doughnut to the box and wiped his fingers clean on a napkin.

“He came to Boston to find me, but he knows I’m not there.” Emma wasn’t used to trusting the law much, a holdover from her childhood, but she’d made a few friends on the force after she’d started her job as a bounty hunter. This guy was nothing like the cops she knew.

“Ms. Swan is Henry’s birth mother. Emma, our sheriff, Graham Humbert. Now that the introductions are made we can move onto more important things.” From his pocket he took out a piece of binder paper, one side frayed from being town out of a spiral notebook. The message was short, not much more than Gold had said over the phone. Henry thought he knew where to find proof that the curse was real. He planned to find it and bring it home so Emma would believe him and have to return.

“That whole stubborn thing might be my fault.” She’d started looking for her parents when she’d run from her last group home at sixteen, and had only given up a couple of years ago. Mostly given up.

“I believe it’s both nature and nurture, but that’s hardly the point now. Did he mention anything to you about what this proof might be?” Gold asked.

“Can we go back for a minute to the whole curse thing? I’m a little lost.” Graham was staring at the letter, turning it over as if there might be something on the other side though it was blank.

“Henry thinks the town is under a curse. Everyone is characters out of this book he has, all about fairy tales.” The book, she’d forgotten all about it. “Maybe there’s a clue in there?”

“He took it with him, along with his backpack and probably a couple of candy bars as I didn’t find any in his secret hiding place. He knows he’s not supposed to have candy in his room but he has a sweet tooth and doesn’t think I know about the box under his bed.” His smile this time was more genuine. “He thinks you can break the curse. He didn’t mention how?”

“He said that I needed to believe, but other than clapping my hands and saying that I believe in fairies, I don’t know what that might mean.” 

A muscle in Gold’s cheek twitched. “I hardly think that’s the answer.” 

“Is there anyone else that Henry might have confided in? A classmate?” Graham suggested.

“Henry’s not very close to most kids his age, not enough that he would tell anyone something like this. But he might talk to Dr. Hopper.” 

Gold was halfway to the door before Emma could catch up. “Hopper?”

“His therapist. If he hasn’t confided in me and he didn’t tell you it’s possible he’s said something in one of his sessions. He’ll be in his office on Main this time of day.” Gold moved pretty damn fast for a man with a cane.

“With a name like Hopper no wonder the kid thinks he’s a cricket.” In fact considering the fact that the waitress Ruby was Red Riding Hood she might have cracked the code on how Henry was ‘identifying’ people. 

“I wonder who he thinks I am?” Graham directed them to his police cruiser. Gold didn’t argue, simply slipping his keys into his pocket as they crossed the parking lot.

“Well you’re not Prince Charming, because apparently he’s still missing.” Emma reached for the handle of the car door, and the ground fell out from under her. Or at least that’s what it felt like. Emma had felt a few earthquakes when she’d lived on the west coast for a time, but this was something different. Earthquakes were never accompanied by a noise not unlike a couple dozen cannons going off. “What the hell?”

“The mine,” Graham said, looking over his shoulder.

At the same time Gold answered: “Henry.”


	4. Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There were secrets within, and his son was going to find them.

“We have to get to the mines.” He knew. It didn’t matter how illogical it was, or that Henry had only mentioned the place once. Deep in his bones he knew where Henry was, and why the mines that had been nothing more than a warning to children for twenty-eight years were shifting. There were secrets within, and his son was going to find them.

Or die trying. “Now.”

“I thought we were going to go talk to Archie first?” Graham slid into the front seat of the car, leaning across to unlock the passenger door first, and then one of the back ones.

“Is there a reason to think that he would be at the mines? Has he been there before?” Emma took the front seat, leaving him to sit in the back. The back seat of a police car was certainly more comfortable than the prisoner’s cart he’d last been in.

“He wanted proof, Ms. Swan. What better place for the evil queen to hide evidence of the truth than in what he believes to be the dwarve’s mine?” His clever boy. Too clever. Everything Regina had would be locked away in her vaults; he had no doubt she’d brought them with her. Henry had been walking past proof every day in the pawn shop, but had yet to connect the fact that seven steins in a neat row belonged to dwarves, or that a unicorn mobile had hung over his mother’s crib. Gold hoped his son would never have to know the history of the marionettes that hung in the corner. But mines were full of magic. Fairy magic and dwarf blood; if there was anything out of Regina’s control, or his, it would be there. “After all, he thinks it’s a part of your mother’s story.”

“You’re a fairy tale character too?” Graham raised an eyebrow as he glanced over his shoulder before backing out of the parking spot. If things weren’t so serious Gold suspected he would be laughing.

“Not a chance. Henry thinks I’m Snow White’s long lost daughter, though, and right now it doesn’t matter what’s real, it matters what he thinks he’s going to accomplish. We’ll start with the mines.” Emma was going to be in for a rude awakening once she figured out that everything Henry said was the truth, but that wasn’t something that could be learned in an afternoon. Right now they just needed to make sure Henry was safe.

“Less chatter and more driving please, sheriff.” He gripped the handle of his cane hard. Once he would have been able to find Henry in a moment, and be at his side quicker than he could point a finger. But this world didn’t have magic. Another child that he was helpless to protect.

“Wherever he is we’ll find him,” Emma attempted to reassure him, as if she wasn’t just as aware as he was that happy endings didn’t always exist. Gold’s jaw tensed and he stared out the window. He didn’t say another word until they pulled up to the dirt lot at the entrance to the mine and found a dalmatian pawing at the collapsed entrance.

“What the hell?” Emma stared at the dog as if she’d never seen one before.

“It’s Pongo.” Graham turned off the car and opened his door. Emma could take care of her own, but the back doors only opened from the outside. Even the extra few moments before he could leave the car were frustrating. “Archie’s dog.”

“Pongo? You’re kidding me, right? He actually named a dalmatian Pongo?” Gold left Graham to explain, or not. He didn’t care. Achie always had to dog with him; no way was he this far from town without his owner.

“They’re in there, aren’t they?” His leg protested as he crouched down next to the dog. There were ways to talk to animals, but none of them were at his beck and call anymore. Still, the dog’s frantic pawing at the ruble had to mean something. Dogs were loyal creatures; if Archie was inside with Henry it would explain the animal’s behavior. It also meant that Henry, at least, wasn’t alone. “We need to start digging, sheriff.”

“It’s a cave in. We need to get a team up here to determine…”

“We need to get to my son.” At any moment the ground could shift again. There was no way of knowing how far into the mine Henry had ventured, or how close to danger he was. 

“We don’t know that he’s in there for sure,” Emma pointed out unhelpfully.

“Yes, I’m certain Doctor Hopper just suddenly decided that he would wander inside a mine today.” He would dig up the damn thing himself if he could.

“Archie isn’t a hiking type of person, that’s true.” Graham opened up his phone, making calls to get the people and equipment they would need. Gold’s fingers curled tightly around the dog’s collar. They’d have to tie him up somewhere out of the way or find someone to watch him, but for the moment Gold just felt the dog’s fur against his fingers. Henry loved Pongo, and had asked for a dog more than once. He should see about getting one. Bae had loved dogs as well, though their dogs had always been a mutt trained for work rather than a sleek purebred pet.

Within twenty minutes half the damn town arrived. Ruby took over watching the dog. Three firefighters that didn’t know they were knights talked strategy with Graham. A mouse had the wench on his truck ready should it be needed, and spent the rest of his time trying to get the wolf girl’s attention. And the Mayor had arrived. He had no doubt that she was there to see him, to taunt him about his child being in danger. She played her chosen role of politician first, though. “People of Storybrooke, don’t be alarmed. We’ve always known this area was honeycombed with old mining tunnels. But fear not. I’m going to undertake a project…”

“The only project that matters right now, Madame Mayor, is the rescue of my son and Doctor Hopper. If you’d stop wasting everyone’s time with empty promises it would be appreciated.” He would not play her games, not today. He was not her puppet, and would not let her pull the strings. 

The crowd that had begun to gather around her, well trained after twenty-eight years of obedience, suddenly found that they had other things to draw their attention.

“If you kept a closer watch on your son, Mr. Gold, we wouldn’t have to be using city resources to get him out of a place he never should have been in the first place. Or perhaps he was attempting to run away again? I certainly wouldn’t blame him for that.” She smiled the bland smile she used with everyone, and that fact alone was the only good thing that had happened in the last hour. She didn’t have the first idea to whom she was talking.

“I’m sure you, with your many years of experience raising a child, have a great deal of advice to offer, dearie, but I have other things to do with my time. Why don’t you go home before you twist an ankle in those silly shoes of yours? It would be such a shame if you were to get hurt.” If he was lucky a conveniently placed rock would accomplish exactly that. A pair of crutches would serve nicely to keep her majesty out of his hair for a little while.

“Gold.” Emma ran over, ignoring the mayor completely. Regina fumed, jaw tensing when Gold turned away from her as well. “There’s an old elevator shaft up top. We’re going to try blowing the top off, and from there someone can rappel down.”

“You want to use explosives when you don’t know where my son might be standing?” In an instant the images of burned and charred children flooded his mind. He’d ended a war once, but it had been too late for some.

“It’s a shaft. The chances of him being there are far less than Archie keeping him close to the mine entrance. We can’t risk trying to blow those rocks free. Trust me, alright?” Emma asked. “I want to get him out of there too.”

“Do you use a lot of explosives in your work as a bail bondsman, Miss Swan?” Never content to be ignored or to let anyone underestimate her, Regina spoke up.

“Probably more than you do in your line of work, Mayor, not that it matters. This is what needs to be done to get Henry out of there safely. And Doctor Hopper.” 

“And where were you the last ten years when Henry’s safety was…”

“Go, Ms. Swan. Blow up the whole mountain if that’s what’s needed to get him out of there.” He waited until Emma was gone before turning his attention back to Regina. 

“Some women know enough about themselves to know that they’re not ready to be a mother and do what is best for the child. I’m sure that’s hard for you to fathom, but that doesn’t make it any less true.” Two women in his life had given up their sons, and it was because of them he was a father. He had hated Milah for such a long time, for abandoning the one he treasured most. he couldn’t fathom why anyone would chose a pirate over their own son. The truth, he realized, was that Bae had always been his son. Milah had left them both, but in her leaving he’d been blessed with his son. In his worst nightmares she took Bae with him, and he’d been nothing but dust. 

Emma had not left her son. She had made a choice to give the boy the best life possible, and while there were times when he might wish that Henry had been spared everything and lived with a nice couple in Boston, he was grateful to her. He had his son because of her. Two women, so very different, had given him the same gift.

The earth shook again when the air was filled with the dust of the explosion. Gold came close to falling, and would have if not for his cane. 

“Look, Gold…”

“Get out of my way, Regina. You can help or you can leave, but nothing comes between me and my son.” Except for a couple tons of rock that, from the look on Graham’s face, remained unmoved. Rocks that even now continued to shift under their feet. Rocks that could fall on Henry at any moment.

Rocks that might have already fallen on him.

“This is my…” Regina tried to step between him and the path up to the top of the mine. He shouldered her to the side none too gently as he strode past her.

“What the hell are you doing here, Sheriff?” he demanded. Graham and Emma stood with Marco, the mouse mechanic and half a dozen others, including, for a delightful bit of irony, two dwarves. “You should be doing anything to get down there, not standing around like this was a coffee social. Where is my son?”

“We’re trying to find a way in, Gold. That was just the first attempt.” Emma’s jacket had been stripped off at some point. She stood in jeans and a tank top, dirt smearing her arms. She looked every inch the daughter of her parents. 

“We need time to come up with a new plan,” Graham added.

“We don’t have time. Henry doesn’t have time.” They didn’t even know if Henry had enough air. They didn’t know if Henry was safe. Anything could be happening. They had no way of knowing if Henry was even still alive. An invisible hand squeezed his heart. He’d dreamt of Bae’s coffin a hundred times, but never Henry’s. If Henry died...

“Maybe you should sit down, Mr. Gold? You don’t look very well.” He’d never seen pity from the huntsman before, not aimed at him. 

“I’m not going anywhere.” Not until he had his boy in his arms.

“Gold…”

“Find my son.” He swung his cane, barely controlling the urge to lash out at everyone. Anyone. There was a crack as it hit the ground instead, shattering into pieces.

“What the hell?” Breathing heavy, Gold almost couldn’t focus on what was happening. Emma kicked away broken bits of wood and rocks that had been moved. Hidden from view was a rusted old grate.

“An air shaft,” Marco commented, already reaching for a crow bar.

“A way down there,” Graham added. “I’ll get a harness. Emma, you and Marco can...”

“I’m going down there.” Emma shook her head. “It needs to be me. I’m going to get him, Gold. I promise.”

“I’ll owe you.” He had nothing to hold onto, only a broken cane and hope. She couldn’t know what it meant, that he would owe her. That deals held weight. He prayed to gods long since forgotten that a deal made would mean a bargain kept. 

They lowered her down the shaft, blond hair vanishing from view and carrying everything that mattered with her. It felt like a lifetime until he heard her call out ‘okay, stop.’ And still he waited, unsure if she found them or was only looking. No one looked at him, their focus on the shaft and whatever was happening below. No one moved, barely even to breathe.

And then the earth shook again, rocks skittering across the ground and a few falling into the shaft, dust swirling around them, the rope that held Emma Swan vibrating with tension.

“Henry,” Gold shouted. There was no cane to support him this time and he fell, landing on his hand and side among the rocks. And then there was stillness. He’d felt the eerie quiet of a battlefield when the war was ended. When all that remained was to count the losses.

“Bring us up.” From down in the shaft Emma’s voice echoed. In that moment there was nothing more beautiful that than word ‘us.’

“Dad.” He didn’t breathe, not until Henry emerged from the shaft, held in Emma’s arms with Archie Hopped holding onto her legs for dear life. It was only moments later that his son was in his arms. “I’m so sorry, dad.”

He tried to speak but the words stuck in his throat. Henry was alive, whole, and safe. He could do nothing more than hold onto his boy.

“Whenever you’re ready Graham gonna give us a ride back to the house.” Emma gave them a minute before crouching down next to father and son.

“You’re staying?” Henry asked hopefully.

“For a little while. Looks like my car needs some new parts and it’s gonna take at least a week.” Emma shrugged. “I figured I’d get a room at the inn.”

“You’ll stay with us.” Gold stood carefully with a bit of aid from his son, his hand resting on the boy’s shoulder, though, more from a need to touch than for balance. Henry grinned up at him, arm wrapping around his waist. Together the three of them walked away from the mines.

No one noticed the mayor, dropping a piece of glass down the mine shaft as everyone left.


End file.
